Relative Discomfort
by Spirals95
Summary: #23 of the Techorse series. Despite knowing her for a long time, Techorse doesn't really know that much about Twilight's family, nor do they know anything about him. Can he change this for the better?


Relative Discomfort

Techorse series: #23

By Spirals95

* * *

Despite knowing her as long as he had known her, and been on so many adventures that he had been with her, and cared so deeply for her, Techorse knew very little about Twilight Sparkle's family. They had been mentioned to him occasionally, and once in a while Princess Celestia might tell him how Shining Armor was doing with his life in his new castle. But the colt still didn't really know his marefriend's family, what they were like, and most importantly: what they would think of him. Techorse couldn't imagine what it would be like if Twilight's family _didn't_ like him. It would be very difficult to work his relationship around the rest of the family in that event. However, he did love Twilight very much, and wanted to somehow prove he was acceptable to the other Sparkles.

Unfortunately, actually getting to meet the other Sparkles had been a hassle for Techorse. Earlier that year he had asked if he could meet her parents, and she had declined because "they were away at a convention". In fact, Twilight had used that excuse exactly 14 times according to Spike when she did it the most recently. Then the excuse became that they were extremely busy with their jobs, which became very hard for Techorse to believe after a while. He knew that Twilight was afraid that her parents wouldn't approve of him for whatever paranoid reason she had in her large brain, and he wasn't very happy about it. Surely they would approve of him if he just got to know them and acted in a polite, refined manner. It made logical sense in his mind, but he just had to have a chance to get to know them.

On one summer day, Techorse once again worked up the courage to ask about Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, and left his small castle for the library. This time, he was accompanied by his robot servant PAL, who towered over the residents of Ponyville. They were used to seeing the humanoid machine plodding around town from time to time to do some shopping, and some of them waved to the gentle giant, who was happy to wave back and smile with his mechanical jaw. Techorse looked back at his robot and smiled.

"_With PAL here, Twilight's less likely to lie_." He thought to himself, "_He can pick up on it_."

* * *

Once they reached the library, PAL stepped forward and knocked gracefully on the red wood door with a metal knuckle. Hoofsteps were heard for a while, and then the door gently opened, with Twilight Sparkle standing in the doorway, a feather duster levitating above her head as she held it in place with her magic.

"Hello Tech, wasn't expecting you!" she said cheerfully. Noticing the robot with the optimistic expression on his face, she added, "You too, PAL. I was just getting ready to dust the history books."

Techorse opened his mouth to speak, but PAL barged in, "Well good afternoon Mistress Sparkle. The master and I were just having a nice walk around Ponyville when we decided to drop in. Master has a very important question to ask you today!"

Twilight leaned slightly on her left legs and dropped the feather duster in a nearby umbrella can, "Really?"

She already knew what the question was going to be, and Techorse sighed in frustration. Now Twilight was going to do anything to get out of a visit with her parents.

"Come on in guys." She said, opening the door fully, "I'll have Spike get some lemon water for you."

As Techorse entered the room behind PAL, Twilight noticed he wasn't wearing his battle saddle. That usually meant he was trying to appear more down-to-earth, and always indicated an ulterior motive.

"Spike!" called Twilight softly up the staircase, "Techorse and PAL are here."

The young dragon walked down the stairs smiling, he liked to hang out with the robot.

"Hey Spike!" said PAL, making eye contact and kneeling down to his level, "How have you been this week?"

"Great." He answered, but then, adding a bit of irritation to his voice, "Except that Twilight's made me stay in while it's nice out."

Twilight grimaced uncomfortably and said, "Well, why don't you two go and have some fun outside today. There's supposed to be rain this weekend according to Rainbow Dash, so maybe it's best if you get some sun now."

Techorse's ears drooped, he knew Twilight had played her cards right. Now PAL and Spike would be out of the library and unable to give him support! Spike climbed up PAL's back and rested on his left shoulder, using his claws to stay hooked onto the robot's frame. PAL stood up, and bid Twilight a good day before leaving the library. She followed him to the door, and said goodbye before closing it, leaving her alone with Techorse.

"So what question did you have for me, sweetie?" she asked.

Techorse walked up to her and said, "Twilight, I've know you for quite a while now…"

Twilight stopped him and said with care in her eyes, "Tech, I still love you. Just because we've been a little too busy to go on many dates right now doesn't mean I've stopped loving you."

"No, it's not that." He said, looking her in the eyes, "It's just, I really want to meet your family and get to know them!"

The lavender unicorn frowned and looked over at a nearby shelf. On it was a picture of her with her family, her mom and her dad standing behind her and Shining Armor sitting next to her. She knew it was going to be hard for them to understand what Techorse was to her. But she'd made excuses long enough, and had let fear control her. Twilight realized that her coltfriend was being worried to death that he'd never be welcomed in by the Sparkles, and it was probably time to give him the chance he needed to develop, and possibly nurture, a close relationship with her family. Despite this, her parents might just not understand as she hadn't said anything about Techorse to them. Because of her worry she had to say no again, and save the issue for later.

"My parents might need a little bit more notice than that." She said, regaining eye contact, "Maybe some other time?"

Techorse became rather depressed about this. He had tried so many times and so hard to get Twilight to give him a chance with her family. But somehow, he knew this was going to happen, and he wasn't going to get his chance anytime soon.

"Well, I'm sorry I can't meet your family this time. I just feel terrible." he said to Twilight.

She frowned, and felt a little bit guilty about the situation.

"Maybe this will help you feel better." She replied.

She kissed him quickly on the lips, and gave him a warm hug before showing him out the door.

* * *

What Twilight didn't know, however, was that PAL and Spike hadn't fallen for her manipulation. Spike had requested that he look in on their friends' conversation by standing on PAL's titanium shoulders, and he had overheard Twilight's refusal. Now Spike, not being the worrywort that Twilight was, knew that her family was most likely going to be happy with Techorse.

"I knew it!" he said, jumping off of PAL and landing on the ground, crouching to absorb the impact, "Twilight's trying to get out of introducing Tech to her parents!"

"Yes, but what can we do about it?" asked the machine dolefully.

Running for Techorse he answered, "Come on PAL, we've gotta tell Techorse. I know exactly how to fix this!"

Techorse looked at the ground as he was walking back home, sad that he wasn't going to get his chance to shine for the Sparkles. Self-pity was his only thought right now, and he had no idea what the future would be like thanks to Twilight's procrastination. Something, however, was making it very difficult to feel sorry for himself.

"Tech! Wait!" called Spike, running up to him.

Techorse stopped and turned around suddenly, causing Spike to accidentally collide with his front. He landed on his bottom, and got up, brushing off the gravel from his purple scales.

"Hey Spike." He said, trying to cheer up, "Aren't you two supposed to be going comic hunting?"

PAL caught up with them and said, "Apparently, master, Spike has a plan for how you can meet Twilight's family."

"Really?" Techorse asked, his ears pointing up at attention, "How can we convince Twilight she should let me visit them?"

"That's just it." explained Spike, smirking, "We're not going to tell Twi. I'm going to spill all the secrets about her family so you can go meet them without her permission."

"That sounds a bit underhanded." Mused PAL, he didn't like tricks.

"Well luckily." chuckled Spike, "Techorse has hooves, not hands."

"I'm not sure logic works that way." protested PAL.

"Oh come on!" said a frustrated Spike, "This might be Techorse's only chance, PAL."

Techorse thought about it for a minute. The consequences that might happen if Twilight were to find out could be devastating. However, if she truly cared about him, she could forgive him for simply taking matters into his own hooves.

"I'll do it!" he said, crouching a bit in excitement, "Just tell me what I need to know, Spike."

Spike clenched his fists and smiled, "Great! Let's head back to your castle and I'll tell you what you need to know."

* * *

After a visit to his laboratory to pick out only the best and most impressive gadgets to show off, Techorse strapped his battle saddle on, clicking together the black straps which held it in place. The laboratory, normally brightly lit and full of working parts, was now still with only a few bins of mechanical parts lying around. As he reflected on the machines he had stuffed into the robotic device, Techorse began to worry.

"_What if they don't like these?"_ he thought, frowning, "_Or worse. What if when I tell them where I came from, and who I was, they freak out. They had to have fought some of the robots back then. Or maybe they'll think I'm violent for practically being a walking arsenal with this thing._"

"Master!" said PAL loudly, snapping him out of the trance of despair.

Techorse shook his head quickly and looked up at his robot.

"What is it, PAL?" he asked, losing the panic in his mind.

"Spike is on the roof ready to explain the plan to you." He said, twiddling his fingers, "You don't want to fall behind, now do you?"

"Right, of course not." answered Techorse, "Let me just make sure I have everything ready, and then I'll meet you upstairs."

After he had finished making the final adjustments to his gadgetry, he followed his robot up the stairs and onto the stone roof.

Spike was sitting down near the now covered hot tub, a piece of parchment paper in front of him, and a quill in his hand. He was busy making a map of Equestria's northern sector, hoping it'd be a decent guide for his friend. After making one last stroke with the feather pen, he dropped it off to the side, and picked up the map to inspect his handiwork. He motioned for Techorse to come look at the map with his tail. The inventor walked up next to the dragon and had a look at the parchment map.

"All right, so we're here on this square." He explained, pointing to a box on the map, "We're at the east end of Ponyville. Twilight's parents will be working today, so the chances you're going to get to see them on this trip are pretty slim until after dark. You will get to meet her brother Shining Armor, though, and his wife Cadance. He lives in this castle here, up in the north. You'll probably have to take the train."

"So wait a minute." Techorse stopped him, "Why do Shining Armor and Cadance live so far away? Shouldn't they be in Canterlot? Twilight always made it sound like they lived there."

"Well, going over some of Twilight's personal writing." He said, somewhat embarrassed to have read the diary, "When the Crystal Empire came back, just a few weeks before you showed up in Equestria, Cadance's father was supposed to help set it back up. But he was missing, if you remember what Prince Darkmatter told you. After those robots attacked, Cadance decided it was better to leave the Empire's issues to representatives in the Equestrian senate."

Techorse sat down on the stone and listened carefully.

Spike continued, "So with her father gone, but still wanting to help her ponies, Cadance and Shining Armor built a castle about 150 miles away west from the Empire, as seen here on the map. This thing was built with steam boilers to heat it during the winter, and it's used as a fort in case the robots come back like they did about a year ago."

"Anything else I need to know?" asked Techorse, being careful.

"Just don't bring up Cadance's father." He warned, "You might really hurt her feelings if you do. He never showed up to her wedding, remember?"

He nodded sadly, "Right."

"PAL and I can watch the castle while we're gone." Said Spike, rolling up the parchment, "Take the map with you in your saddle, bro. You're gonna need it."

Techorse's saddle opened up, and one of the robot arms moved out, grasped the map, and then whisked away back into the device, startling Spike.

"You _might_ also not want to do that when you meet them." He said, laughing nervously.

Techorse shook his head, obviously he wasn't going to do anything embarrassing like that in front of them. After saying his goodbyes, he deployed his turbofans and lifted off for the train station.

* * *

The train trip went well for Techorse, saving him several hours of flying. After a 2 hour trip with only a single stop in Mineland for a refueling, he began to see the castle in the distance, marked by a plume of steam rising above the mountains. Snow began to fall as he got closer, and the cold started to chill past his coat, making him shiver a bit. After disembarking the train, he left for the castle in the distance. Eventually he reached the massive structure, and set himself down gently in front of it, finding himself flank-deep in snow. After trudging over to an area that had been plowed of the white fluffy precipitation, he walked along a wide path to the large, iron gates of the building.

It was a rather impressive castle too, being over 300 feet tall and built out of solid white brick, camouflaging the fortress against the snowy mountains of the north. There were many towers of seemingly random height running alongside the inner castle walls, and the entire assembly was surrounded by a defensive outer wall that was built like a hollowed-out truncated pyramid. At each corner of the wall was a very high defensive tower that housed a barbette containing two smooth bore cannons. These, Techorse thought, must be able to rotate so that the castle could maximize firepower in one direction in case of an emergency. The crowning feature of the structure, however, was the massive boiler house in the center. Three tall smokestacks bundled together, and striped with blue in a candy-cane style, rose above almost everything else and poured light colored smoke into the atmosphere. The power from these steam boilers heated and powered the castle and all of its modern electric lights, weapons systems, and most likely also provided a nearly infinite supply of hot water to its residents.

Techorse was amazed by the steam-based technology present on a building that was supposed to be representative of old construction principles. He approached the gate, and looked to the left to find a gatekeeper mare, filing her hoof and in general not paying attention to her duties. She was a heliotrope colored unicorn pony with straight blue hair ironed into false curls, and her cutie mark bore a single large purple book with a cyan question mark on it.

"Hello!" said Techorse, "I'm here to see Princess Cadance."

"Do you have an appointment?" asked the keeper, looking up at him and smiling.

This had caught him off guard, but he wasn't willing to lie, so he answered with a frown, "Well, no. I never got a chance to give advance notice."

The mare leaned out of the window and gave his mane hair a good rub, "I was just messing with you, nopony gets an appointment; heck hardly anypony's ever out here at all! If you want to see the princess I'll just let her know you're coming and…"

She looked behind Tech's head and saw his saddle.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, blocking her view again by moving his head.

"Well it's just that you _do_ have to declare any weapons you have. That's like, the one rule we have. No outside weapons, so if you have any in there, you have to tell me about them."

Techorse explained, "This is my battle saddle, it's equipped with laser cannons, missile launchers…"

He noticed her giving him a funny look and said, "It basically gives me a little less than one unicorn's magic firepower."

"Oh, so it's a new thing, huh?" the gatekeeper said, scratching her head and wonder, "Amazing, an earth pony with a magic saddle. Anyways, just give that to me, I'll have it checked for you, and then I'll give it back once you leave."

Techorse carefully unbuckled the device and passed it over to the unicorn, who would later place it inside a weapons safe. She then pressed a button on a desktop in her office, and the gates in front of the castle hissed as steam escaped from the pneumatic systems forcing them shut. They quickly opened up in front of Techorse, and the outer wall's drawbridge was already opened wide.

As he trotted over to the drawbridge to enter the castle, the thought occurred to him that he had just given up the gadget he was going to impress the Sparkles with! Now there was no way Cadance or Shining Armor would see it, and he'd have to do something else to impress them. Thoughts of being laughed at or called a fraud had to be fought back against in order for Techorse to not lose his mind as he stepped up to the front door.

* * *

Once he had gotten inside of the castle, which was brightly lit up by multiple light bulbs that represented vacuum tubes, he followed the wide and roomy hallways to the throne room, using a map provided by a friendly guard by the drawbridge. The door consisted of a circular metal opening, with small brass handles meant to be pulled on by hooves. Techorse pulled gently on the left brass ring, and opened the door boldly, closing it by turning around and pushing on it instead of slamming it with his hind legs.

After turning around, Techorse was shocked at what he saw. For what was supposed to be a throne room, it resembled more of a coffee room. There were two velvet and gold chairs that served as "thrones" at the back of the room, but they looked just like ornate living room comfy chairs to Techorse. A small table sat in front of the two chairs, topped with plates and drinks from earlier snacks. The carpet on the floor was blue, thick, and wooly, generating static cling if you happened to scuffle along it. No large stained glass windows existed, just a few bay windows used for observation only, and heat registers to keep the room warm. A few beautiful cushions of various colors were spread out in front of the table, each one clean and smelling of lilies.

Cadance was over by the window facing the north side of the castle, and noticing Techorse, moved over to greet him.

"Hello, the gatekeeper told me you were coming." She said with a smile on her face. The slender pink mare stepped over onto the blue rug, and sat down on her velvet chair.

"Thank you for letting me visit." Techorse said trying to express gratitude, "I love your throne room, your majesty."

Cadance told him with a laugh, "Oh stop it, please! I had the castle built like this to make it seem like a warm, safe home for my subjects. They've had such bad experiences with leaders that I didn't want them to have to bow before me, and I didn't want them to be afraid. So I made our throne room look as inviting as possible."

"That's very kind." complimented Techorse, "This place really does look safe, what with all the turrets and the technology."

"Those were my husband's idea." She admitted, "I let him have a few says in the castle's design too!"

With a small glow around her horn, Cadance lifted a nearby cup of tea to her lips and took a sip before replacing it on the table. Techorse was sorely tempted to plop himself down on a pillow and sprawl, but he was here for a purpose!

"So who are you again?" asked Cadance, "You wanted to talk to me about something, right?"

Techorse put a hoof on his front and said, "My name's Techorse. I'm an inventor who lives in Ponyville, I make and sell appliances as my career, I use the slogan 'designed with hooves in mind'."

At his name, she became rather surprised.

"Wait, you're Techorse?" asked Cadance, sounding a bit apologetic as if she was sorry he wasn't what she was expecting, "You don't look like what I imagined him to look like."

Stunned by the fact she had heard of him, Techorse asked, "You've heard of me before?"

"You really think Aunt Celestia would keep news of a new auxiliary element from me?" she asked sarcastically, "I knew about Techorse and his help in stopping the invasion we had last year, and the discovery of Justice as an element."

"Yeah, that's me!" confirmed Techorse, "I'm the one with the 'magic saddle' as your servants are calling it. Sorry I don't look like what you were thinking of."

Cadance took a quick look out the window before returning to him, "It's fine. I guess I was thinking of a colt a little taller is all. Anyways, it's good to have a hero in my castle asking me anything other than what needs slaying around here. So what did you want to ask me again?"

Techorse continued, "What I wanted to do was get to know you better. See, I'm Twilight Sparkle's coltfriend."

The princess recoiled slightly in surprise at the statement, "What?"

"I'm serious!" he said, "I wanted to introduce myself so that I can get to know the Sparkle family better."

"How do I know that what you're saying is true?" asked Cadance, "No offense Techorse, but anypony could say that."

"You mean the fact that I helped her and her friends isn't enough proof?" he asked with disappointment.

"Well not every two ponies who go on an adventure together pair off. Love doesn't always work that way." She explained, tapping a hoof as if irritated.

Techorse looked around to see if there were any guards nearby, or if any other beings were observing the room. It didn't look like it, so he slowly backed away from the table to give himself enough room for what he was going to do.

Now, in his mind, he knew that he really didn't want to have to do what he planned on doing. But there seemed to be no other way he could prove who he was to Cadance without doing it. It was so embarrassing to him, however, that he wanted to make dead sure that there wasn't a soul watching. He looked around one more time, then took a nice breath before beginning.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Techorse had hoped that he had performed the dance perfectly. He turned around from shaking his rear end and looked at the surprise on Cadance's face.

"How did you know that song?" she asked, her multicolored hair slightly frizzing in shock.

"I learned it from Twilight!" he answered, "She taught it to me on one of our dates."

"She taught you well, then." Snickered Cadance, "It's good to see Twilight grown up and dating."

"Well, recently…" admitted Techorse, "We haven't had tons of time to go on dates, and it doesn't seem like we always have a huge amount of romantic feelings for each other. Sometimes I worry that things won't work out."

The princess smiled and got up from her chair, walking over to him while saying, "Techorse, before I got married and took on the responsibility of a leader, my magic was always centered around healing and relationships. Tell me the truth, do you respect Twilight and go out of your way to make her feel special?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She answered with a smirk, "For one thing, do you sit quietly and listen while she goes on and on about the latest book she's been reading?"

He smiled at her, "Of course."

"Doesn't she listen to you when you talk about whatever you've built recently?"

"Yeah, usually."

"And both of you would save the other one if something terrible were to happen, right?"

"I'd do anything to protect her."

"Well then." concluded Cadance, "It sounds to me like you and Twilight love each other very much."

Techorse said in confusion, "But princess, we don't always feel so passionate about each other."

Cadance put her right hoof on his right wither and said, "True love is not about feelings, Techorse. True love is when you're willing to go out of your way for somepony in a way that you don't for any others. It's about respect, commitment, and being there for her. The feelings always come and go as they please in a relationship. Love is an action."

"Then what should I do?" he asked, frowning.

"I don't think you have to do anything, because you're a good choice for Twilight." She answered, "Maybe if you could work on spending a little more time together, you wouldn't have these worries. But I can tell you're a smart and considerate pony, and that's enough."

Techorse was relieved that he wasn't going to have to demonstrate any of his inventions in order to impress the princess. He had already convinced her that he was a decent being, and that seemed to be just perfect for someone who was an expert on relationships.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a large pegasus mare entered, wearing a hardhat and a flak vest.

"Your majesty!" she shouted, "Boiler number 3's pressure is off the charts! If we don't do something soon, half the castle is going to be a crater!"

"Is it a single-turbine model?" asked Techorse.

"Yes!" answered the guard, her orange mane sticking out from underneath her helmet, "Do you know anything about steam turbines? We could always use one more engineer on this problem."

"I'll do my best!" he answered, standing up in response to the emergency.

They ran for the door to go to the boiler room, with Cadance chasing behind them.

"I'm coming too!" she said.

* * *

They raced to the central building of the castle, slamming open doors as they rushed into the control room that housed the three mighty boilers that supplied energy to the palace. Once they entered the room, Techorse marveled at the sheer size of the place. It was over six hundred feet on both sides, and in the back of the room, 3 massive brass boilers the size of tanker trucks sat on a massive bed of burning coals, heating water from melted snow. The steam from these boilers was pumped over to a set of three turbines which rotated to provide a large amount of electrical power. The third boiler's seams were leaking white hot steam at the edges, and a loud hissing noise echoed throughout the blazing hot room.

"Lousy earth pony engines, a weather or magic based power plant would have been better." muttered the engineer mare.

Techorse gave her a nasty look for the insult and said, "Hey, just because it doesn't run off of weather or magic energy doesn't mean it's junk! You just have to take care of the machines better."

"Miss Conductive!" interrupted another engineer, a young pegasus colt who was experiencing his first training day, "I know you're upset, but we're going to lose the boiler if we don't do something now! Stop arguing with that guy and help me!"

Conductive nodded and flew over to a large group of mechanical controls. Levers, buttons, and switches lined the primitive-looking power plant control grid, and once in a while a pressure dial would indicate that boiler 3's condition was getting worse. A rivet popped out from the assembly and shot across the long room, tearing a hole in the wall just behind Conductive. She looked over all the controls and pushed a button to turn off water flow to the boiler. The massive pipes in the room groaned as the flow as stopped, but the water still in the boiler was continuing to mount pressure at an alarming rate.

"Oh no, I thought that would have worked!" she gasped, a siren going off on the control panel to indicate that she had mere moments.

"She's gonna blow!" shouted the trainee, ducking and covering his head with his front hooves.

"Techorse, do something!" demanded Cadance, "Shining's not here to shield the castle from the blast!"

"I'm not going to let it explode!" he said with determination. Running over to the panel, and nearly getting hit by several more flying rivets from the dying engine, Techorse looked over the controls and looked for a kill switch. There was none of course, a flaw in the design of the power system. But the feed pipes on the wall contained water from the icy outside…

"Cadance, what offensive magic do you know?" he shouted over the alarms.

"Just the basic pellet attack!" she answered.

That wasn't enough firepower to do what he planned on doing. But looking around, he found a tool rack containing shovels for stoking the fires with fresh coal.

"Hey, you!" shouted Techorse to the trainee.

He timidly looked up at him and asked, "Yeah?"

"Grab the shovel, fly up to the pipes, and break the red valves on the end closest to the boiler!" he shouted, "It's the only thing we can do!"

Swallowing his fear of getting hit by the rivets, he complied and dutifully grabbed a shovel. Spreading his wings, he glided up towards the red twist-valves used to manually closed the pipes. Several rivets and a jet of boiling hot steam threatened to injure him, but he bravely dodged those obstacles, and reached the red valve, which was as big as a steering wheel. He pulled back the shovel with his two hooves while hovering, and swung it as hard as he could.

The impact broke the head of the shovel and the valve at the same time. Small jets of icy water emitted from the base of the valve, and cracks started to appear around the junction of the pipe. The pegasus pony fled the failing tubes as fast as possible, and returned to Conductive's side.

Then the pipes ruptured, and ice cold water from the melted snow flowed out in tremendous volume, pouring out over boiler #3. The coals beneath the machine were instantly extinguished, and the icy chill of the water began to cool the boiler, turning the excessive steam inside into water again. The pressure gauges on the boiler began to fall, and steam stopped leaking from the edges of the engine. Soon the boiler was safely shut down, and the other two function ones were carrying its weight for it. The pipes designed to supply boiler #3, however, were permanently ruined and would have to be replaced. But it was a much smaller economic loss than if the boiler had exploded, and the pipes bursting caused zero injuries in comparison to the tragic number that might have occurred.

The young pony shook from the adrenaline from his task, but he also felt great pride that he had managed to stop the explosion.

"You did it, Damage Control!" squealed Conductive, "You got the situation under control."

"Does this mean I can have the engineering job?" he asked.

His supervisor laughed, "Of course you can!"

Techorse and Cadance smiled at each other and left the boiler room.

* * *

"You handled that emergency extremely well, Techorse." She said, "I think you would make a great addition to the Sparkle family."

This got an ear-to-ear grin out of Techorse. In his mind, he had checked off one more pony to impress before the day was over. But then it occurred to him,

"Hey, where is your husband? You said he wasn't here to help shield us."

Cadance answered, "He's out at the Turtle Lodge again. It's a place where ponies go to trap turtles to give as pets to foals. But it's also a great hangout for stallions and mares who are passing through the area."

"How long does he leave for?" asked Techorse.

"He's been gone for weeks at a time to the lodge, and for so often that I've been worried about him." She said, a little sadly, "In fact, my captain of the guard's wife gave me a frying pan as a present for when Shining gets back from this trip."

Techorse tried not to laugh at the gag behind the saucepan, instead making an offer, "I'd like to go to the lodge and talk to him, if possible. Maybe I can figure out why he's been going on so many vacations."

"It's best if I ask those questions." Cadance said, "I'll be right there a few hours after you get there, I have some loose ends to tie down after the boiler incident."

He bid her farewell and headed back out to the gate to collect his battle saddle and make for the lodge. It was only a few hours away from the castle, but Techorse still wished that he had brought his self-teleporter as it would have saved him the flight.

* * *

The lodge itself was located in a much warmer climate 2 hours southwest of the castle, and was situated in a deciduous forest. It was a large structure made almost entirely out of logs, cobblestone, and brick chimneys whose fireplaces were used to keep the multiple guest rooms warm. The large estate covered several acres, and served as a trapping ground for the river turtles the ponies who vacationed here liked to catch. Techorse approached the small front door, a simple blue-colored wood opening on the east side of the building complex.

He entered into a large room filled with rugs made from artificial materials, a roaring fireplace, and several photographs of earlier successful traps, with some of the caught turtles being larger than a toaster. Finding his way around the lodge was easy due to its lack of commercial ownership by a company; the entire estate was funded by sales of the pet turtles, and was a shared community property by the ponies who stayed there from season to season. Finding Shining Armor's part of the building meant looking for some kind of map or directory, and the only one available pointed out his section of the building being on the east side. Following the map, he made it to the cabin, number 24, and knocked gently on the door with his hoof, rather than his saddle's hand.

"Hey, come on in." came a voice from behind the door.

Techorse nudged the door open with his nose, and entered the rustic room. The log walls were complimented by simple 4-pane windows, and a nice stone fireplace which burned pine wood, filling the room with the great smell of the sap. Shining Armor was seated down on a simple recliner near the fireplace, and was reading a large red-bound book on investment plans.

"Haven't met you before." he said, placing the book down with his magic on a nearby nightstand.

"My name's Techorse." stated the inventor, walking forward to greet him, "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Finally meet me?" laughed Shining, his rough-ended hooves creaking the floorboards, "Did somepony keep you away from me?"

"Yeah, actually, although you'd probably be shocked as to who it is." said Techorse, laughing slightly.

Shining Armor didn't know what he was in for, but he had a guest now, and it was rather lonely at the Lodge.

"I'm going to go to the storage shed outside, we can talk more there. It's nice to meet the colt who stopped the robots." He said.

Techorse was very happy on the inside that Shining Armor had also heard of his adventures, and followed him eagerly outside.

* * *

The two left the cabin and went to the storage shed, which was a relatively plain building a few feet away from the main lodge. Inside, Shining Armor pointed out a small collection of weapons that he had taken with him from Canterlot.

"So, where are you from anyways, Techorse?" he asked, looking over a few daggers on a carpentry bench.

"It would take a while for me to explain where I'm really from, but right now I live in Ponyville." He said, "I market my inventions for a living."

"Neat." He said, seeming uninterested in technology, "Good choice of hometown though."

Techorse then brought about his main point, "I know. Shining Armor, the reason I wanted to talk to you is because I'm your sister's coltfriend. Twilight and I have been together for a while now, and I wanted to get to know the rest of her family better."

Now _this _had Shining's attention. The thought of any colt taking advantage of Twilight made him angry, and even though Techorse "seemed nice", he could potentially do something that would crush his sweet sibling forever. In response to the statement, Shining Armor used his magic to pick up a dagger from the bench, and began cleaning it with a nearby rag.

"Is that so…" he said, somewhat grumpy. His striped hair seemed to be accenting his anger at Techorse.

"Yes!" continued Techorse, unaware of the aggression, "She and I go out together to read books, eat lunch, or just have fun."

Shining Armor put down the dagger, and picked up a nearby sword, polishing that instead.

"You'd better treat my sister right." he said, "I wouldn't like it if you were to hurt her."

"Hurt her?" asked Techorse, a bit disappointed, "I would never do such a thing. We get along really well, and I don't want to risk that over something stupid."

Shining Armor still wasn't convinced, he had moved over to a smoothbore cannon and was polishing it furiously in front of Techorse in hopes he'd take a hint. It wasn't working, so he dropped the rag to the ground and pointed to a nearby wooden crossbow hanging up on the wall of the shed.

"You know." said Shining, "I'm a really good shoot with a crossbow. I can hit a target 1000 feet away when it's moving fast, and I can aim for any particular part I want to hit. You should have seen the look on that spy's face when he thought he was about to get away from me and my guards, before the arrow went right through…"

Techorse was still oblivious and interrupted, "It's neat that you're good with a crossbow, and I'd love to see you shoot it later, but can I please try to show you that I'm a good choice for your sibling?"

Still not "getting through" to Techorse, Shining moved over to an oversized cannon and began to polish that. Eventually the image of him readying his weapons had to give some sort of hint to the inventor, even with his social cluelessness.

"That's a really nice artillery piece you've got there." He said pointing at it with a front leg, "Where did you get it?"

"It was a gift from Princess Celestia when I left Canterlot." explained Shining, "Too bad it doesn't fire anymore."

Techorse had an idea as to how he could impress Shining Armor and also show off his personal talents.

"Did you ever serve on an artillery team?" he asked.

Shining Armor shook his head, "Never got the chance."

"Well then, let me have a look!" Techorse said, walking closer to the gun. Shining stepped away from the solid black tube on wooden wheels, and let him have a better view.

The doors on Techorse's saddle opened up, and using his robotic arms, he opened the breech of the cannon and looked on the inside. After fiddling with the components on the breech door and making a few understanding mutterings, he told Shining Armor what was wrong with his souvenir weapon.

He pointed with a metal finger at a small device shaped like a hammer connected to a piece of flint, and the button on top of the cannon.

Shining Armor peered at the device, and Techorse explained the issue, "What you've got here is a breech-loaded howitzer-style cannon, designed to hit targets at medium range. The firing hammer here is supposed to strike the flint when the button on top is pressed, thus sparking the gunpowder charge and firing the cannon. The hammer's spring is broken, so if you replace it, the cannon will fire again."

"Huh, neat!" Shining said, pretending he had heard anything but the last sentence of Techorse's speech, "How did you know all that?"

"One time I was going to Sugarcube Corner for a brownie, and found Pinkie Pie fixing her party cannon in the back of the building. She told me all about how smoothbore cannons work, and how she had made hers from a bunch of parts she'd bought from around the town. Normally I'd be a little too high-technology to know anything about an old weapon like this, but it was fun learning something new from a friend." he explained.

It was then that it occurred to him that perhaps Shining Armor had been showing him his weapon collection for a reason.

"Oh, duh." He said, facepalming before putting back the robot arms, "Shining, you're showing me a cannon because you're concerned about Twilight, aren't you?"

Having been caught, he said honestly, "Yeah, of course. Twiley only deserves the best, and I didn't have any idea what you were like. I don't care if you're a hero, a warrior, or an ordinary pony, if you're not a good stallion, you're not for her."

"It's kind of a shame that you want to fire that thing at me." stated Techorse, "Twilight told me that you were one of the nicest stallions in Equestria."

Shining Armor was feeling rather ashamed of how he had treated Techorse now, as he'd only wanted to test his character, but had probably taken things too far.

So, he gave him a confident look and said, "Techorse, I guess I was wrong to threaten you. Now that I think about it, you really are a gentlecolt. You showed respect for a mare by listening to Pinkie Pie on a topic that a lot of other colts might think they know everything about. I can tell you carry over that same level of respect, and more, to my Twiley."

Showing some remorse, he made eye contact with him and asked sincerely, "Sorry for all the mind games. Can you forgive me?"

Techorse answered with a wink and a smile, "Of course I can forgive you, Shining. You were only doing what you thought was best for your sister. If I had any sibling and their coltfriends were over, I'd probably spend a little bit of time with my laser cannons out."

"Speaking of that." said Shining, pointing to a target in the back of the shed, "I've heard of those and I've got to see them in action. Would you mind shooting this target for me?"

"With pleasure!" answered Techorse, turning to face the wooden circle in the back of the room.

The saddle opened up, and two metal tubes braced by capacitors slid out. Techorse spotted a training target at the back of the shed, and began to blast away at it with his laser cannons, sending yellow bolts of electromagnetic energy at the bullseye. The wooden target was struck several times, chunks flew off in all directions, until nothing but a stick remained. Techorse retracted the guns again, and breathed heavily. Shining Armor was rather impressed by the impressive weapon system, not that Techorse's marksmanship was the best in the world, but the cool weapons had already won him over.

"Wow, and those things run off of electricity, and not magic?" said a very impressed Shining, "What else have you got in there?"

Techorse offered to go on a walk with Shining to talk more about his gadgets and various adventures in Equestria. Of course the offer was accepted, and within an hour the two were becoming friends, sharing stories and experiences. Eventually the conversation took a turn for the awkward side of things once Shining Armor asked a question about his successor.

"So how's my replacement Arbiter doing?" he asked as they walked along the riverbank, "Does he do a good job?"

"He's very good at keeping the princesses safe, and hardly lets anypony visit them without proof of good intentions. Since I came from a different world, he was very cautious about me." answered Techorse, a little upset.

"What, was he annoyed by you?" chuckled Shining.

Techorse complained, "He tried to cut my head off!"

"Yeah, that seems about right for Arbiter." he said bluntly, wishing he hadn't asked.

"Recently though, Arbiter's been a bit better." Continued Techorse sarcastically, "But he's still kinda irritated with me believing in that whole 'due process' thing."

"Oh I can imagine." said Shining just as sarcastically, "He also has a lot of faith in the law. Of course, "The Law" is what he named his first sword…"

They shared a hearty laugh over the jokes about Captain Arbiter's nature and then continued to follow the stream's path.

"You really ought to spend more time with other guys, Techorse." mentioned the prince, moving away from his trap, "They'd love to have these kinds of conversations. Let's go inside and get something to eat, ok?"

* * *

After heading back inside the lodge, the lights had been dimmed so that Shining's room had been completely darkened.

"Could you get that switch for me, Tech? I'm going to head for the kitchen." asked Shining.

Techorse flipped the switch with his robot arms, and then returned the devices back into his saddle with a whirring sound. Shining Armor, who had stumbled through the dark for the center of the room, was now face to face with his wife, who had a disgusted look on her face. She had been hiding in the darkness for him. With a spark of pink energy from her horn, she lifted up from a nearby chair the frying pan she had been given earlier. Shining Armor knew he was in trouble for being away for so long.

"Oh, hello sweetheart!" he said to her while grimacing, "Want to join me on vacation?"

"Shining, you've been here for over two weeks, and you've taken at least 5 weeks off this year total." She said, readying the pan, "What have you been doing here?"

She seemed to be getting ready to strike him with the pan, which Techorse really hoped she wouldn't do.

"To be honest, Cadance…" started Shining, "I've just missed being my own stallion since we moved out of Canterlot. Taking care of the Empire for your father has been the hardest challenge of our lives, and I haven't been able to work on myself at all."

That certainly explained the investment book, along with the other reading materials Shining had been looking at over those weeks. He was trying to develop himself personally so that he wouldn't be a faceless leader to the Crystal Empire.

"I just wanted to have a personal life, but I'm sorry I ran off for it." He said glumly.

"Oh Shining, just come back home and we can work something out! We need you more than ever back home." Cadance said, "I'll give you some 'Shining Time' every day, all right?"

"So you're not going to hit me with that frying pan?" he asked hopefully, pointing to the cooking implement.

Cadance tossed the pan out the window of the cabin and said, "Of course not. Come here, love!"

They embraced and kissed in front of Techorse, who shut his eyes and smiled at the positive outcome to the situation.

"Didn't forget about you, Techorse." said Cadance, "Is there anything we can do for you before you head back to Ponyville?"

"Actually, I have an idea, but it might mean going a while out of your way!" he answered, a plan churning in his mind.

"Lay it on us!" said Shining.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle finished putting the last history book back into place on the shelf. The volumes were now perfectly aligned and dusted off, not a single one was either dirty or out of place. PAL had dropped by recently and taken Spike to Techorse's castle for a couple board games. Twilight hoped that everything was going ok, as it was getting dark and Techorse hadn't returned yet. A knock at the door distracted her from her thoughts, and she went to answer it. When she opened the door, Techorse was standing in the doorway, wearing a nice shirt, pants, and sport coat.

"Oh hey Tech!" she said, not expecting him to show up.

Frowning when she noticed his amazing outfit, she asked, "why are you all dressed up tonight?"

Techorse stepped out of the way, and let Shining, Cadance, and Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle in through the doorway. Twilight's mouth nearly fell open in surprise.

"Mom, Dad? Cadance, Shiny?" asked Twilight nervously, "What are you doing here?"

Her father said, "We're here to take you and your coltfriend out to dinner tonight!"

"It was all your brother's idea. He's told us all about him." said Mrs. Sparkle.

"Really?" Twilight asked, "Is this true?"

"Go put something nice on, Twiley," said Shining Armor, "And let's go!"

"You're sure you want to go out tonight on such sort notice?" exclaimed Twilight in one last ditch attempt to get out of it.

"Yeah." He answered, looking back at his new friend, "This is the least I could do for Techorse after how I acted."

"Come on Twilight!" said her mother, "We're running behind, sweetie. Go put your dress on."

Twilight realized that somehow, despite everything they had worried about, Techorse had explained his origin to her family and managed to gain their trust despite that. So, she went and put on her favorite yellow colored dress, and returned to her family ready to go for a fun night out. When they left the tree home all locked up for the night, Twilight and Techorse followed the rest of the family with their tails wrapped around each other.

From behind a nearby bush, Spike and PAL watched them leave for their dinner, and turned to each other all smiles. Their plan to introduce Techorse to the family had worked! As loudly as they could without drawing attention, a metal fist met a scaled one in a robot-dragon fistbump.

As they headed for the carriage that would take them to the restaurant, Techorse and Twilight were thinking nothing but peaceful thoughts. From that day forward they knew they'd never have to worry about what others might think about them being together. Their love and respect for each other was all they needed.

The end.


End file.
